Eugene Elden Nielsen

ROCHESTER -- A memorial service for Eugene E. Nielsen will be at 11 a.m. Friday at Bethel Lutheran Church in Rochester; the Rev. Anjanette Rist will officiate. Interment will be in the Hayfield Cemetery.

Mr. Nielsen, 87, of Rochester, died Friday (May 1, 2009) at Saint Marys Hospital.

Eugene Elden Nielsen was born June 23, 1921, in Owatonna, to Albert and Edith Nielsen. They lived in Owatonna until he was 16; the family then moved to Hayfield. He farmed with his dad until 1943. He was in the Merchant Marines from 1943 to 1945, served aboard the USS Antigua during World War II, and was at Pearl Harbor and Okinawa, Japan. He returned to Hayfield and farmed his own farm until 1949. In 1946 he married Roxanna Remington; they later divorced.

He moved to Rochester in 1949 and worked for Leon Joyce Construction Co., operating road construction equipment. He later worked for Rochester Dairy. He was a member of Bethel Lutheran Church, as well as the International Operating Engineers Local 49 for 52 years.

Survivors include his daughter, Candace (James) Vines of Edgewater, Md.; a brother, Loren (Terri) Nielsen of Stewartville; and many nieces and nephews. He was preceded in death by a brother, Alan; and two sisters, Dorothy Jacobsen and Betty Morley.

Czaplewski Family Home of Hayfield is assisting with the arrangements.